9th District's boundaries are new, not candidates

Despite winning election to Congress eight times, U.S. Rep. Adam Smith is treading new ground in his defense of Washington’s 9th Congressional District seat this year.

The incumbent Democrat faces radically altered home terrain – both physically and politically. Redrawn boundaries now make the 9th the state’s first minority-majority congressional district, shifting to the north what traditionally had been an area that traversed parts of south King, west Pierce and north Thurston Counties.